Handbag structure



NOV. 24, 1959 L KUsHYNsK| ETAL 2,914,105

HANDBAG STRUCTURE Filed Julie 6, 1957 'BY MMV ,QTrog/VEY United States `I )awtnfzrrt HANDBAG STRUCTURE Leon Kushynski, Los Angeles, and Sydney Wolock, North Hollywood, Calif., assignors to Sydney Accessories, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application June 6, 1957, Serial No. 664,007

2 Claims. (Cl. 150-33) stance no handles are provided on the bag. For these different types of usage, two separate bags are generally required.

It is an object of this invention to provide a ladies bag construction permitting use of the bag with or without a handle.

Another object of the invention is to design a simple inexpensive handbag structure incorporating a removable handle and means on the handbag body for removably retaining said handle in operative or inoperative position, so that a single bag can serve both as a handbag `which can be carried from a handle, or as a bag which can be clutched in the, hand.

The terms bag and handbag as employed herein are used in a generic sense as denoting ladies bags for carrying accessories, which can be of any size or shape.

A handbag structure has been developed, according to the invention, which ,comprises retaining means provided in the body of the bag, and a handle having means at its opposite ends for cooperation with said retaining means, said handle being readily assembled in operative position in said retaining means and removed therefrom as desired. Preferably said retaining means are in the form of pockets provided in the walls of the bag at opposite ends thereof, and the handle, which may be a rigid, e.g. plastic, handle or in the form of one or more flexible straps, preferably a strap type handle, is designed at its opposite ends in the form of a hook, loop or similar conguration which can be inserted readily into said pockets when the bag is to be worn on the arm suspended from the handle, andeasily removed from said pockets vWhen the bag is to be carried in the hand.

Where a flexible strap or 4straps are employed, it is preferred to incorporate a stiiening member, e.g. a metal insert, into the loops at the ends of the handle, to insure proper retention of said loops in the aforementioned retaining means or pockets, and to prevent accidental removal of the handle from the pockets when the bag is being carried from the handle.

The inside wall or lining of the bag is preferably also provided with a holder in which the handle or strap can be inserted conveniently when the bag is carried in the hand, e.g. as a clutch bag, the handle in this manner being readily available whenever the user wishes to assemble it in operative position on the bag for carrying purposes.

There is thus provided by means of the invention a 2,914,105 Patented Nov. 24Y 1959 V2 combination handbag and clutch bag, whereas heretofore, two separate bags, one provided with a handle and the other without a handle, have been required for these two types of usage.

The invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the descrpition below of certain preferred embodiments, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. l is an elevational view of a bag construction according to the invention, shown broken away at its opposite upper ends to reveal the handle retaining structure;

Fig. 2 is a partial view of the inside of one half portion of the bag of Fig. 1, showing the holder for the handle when the latter is not in use;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of the end loop or hook of the handle in operative position in a retaining pocket, taken on line 3 3 of Figs. l and 2;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the bag of Fig. 1 shown in partially open position, and employing two straps;

Fig. 5 shows a modification of the invention wherein the handle retaining pockets are disposed on the outside of the bag; and

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6 6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing, numeral 10 represents a conventional type of handbag having outer flexible side walls 12 formed' of any suitable material such as leather, plastic, cloth, alligator skin, and the like, as illustrated in Fig. 1, and a frame 14 of conventional type formed of two like pivotally mounted frame members 15, as seen in Fig. 4, which support the bag and form a border about the interior portion 16 of the bag.

Theside walls 12 are bent back attheir side edges 17 to form overlapped inner border portions 18 which, adjacent their inner periphery at 19 are bent around and connected to side portions 20 of each of frame members 15 as indicated at 22. The side walls 12 are also each bent back along their upper edges 24 and cut to form an inner upper piece or web 26 which extends about the upper horizontal portion 28 of frame members 15 and downwardly a short distance about the side portions 20 of the frame members to a position indicated at 30, which forms the lower edges of the inner piece or web 26, said latter edges being inclined upwardly slightly from the horizontal. The inner edge 32 of the web 26 is connected to the upper portion 28 `and to the side portions 20 of frame 14, and the outer side edges 34 of piece 26 are connected as by stitching to the 4adjacent upper edges of the side walls 12. There is thus formed beneath each of the downwardly extending ends 36 of piece 26, a pocket 3S having an opening 40 in the lower end thereof, as best seen in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 shows one half portion of the upper end of the bag, vthe other upper half portion of the bag being the same in structure, the two half portions of the bag being movable relative to each other by means of the pivotal connection 41 at the lower end ofthe two frame members 15, as seen in Fig. 4.

A strap 42 forming a handle, and composed of a exible material, preferably of the same type of which the bag side walls 12 are composed, such as alligator skin, has sewn within the outer end portions 44 of such strap, a thin metal insert 46. IInsert 46 is U-shaped as seen in Fig. 3, and has a width slightly less vthan the width of the,- strap. Said insert stiifens the end portions 44 of the strap 42, causing them to assume the form of a loop of U-shape similar to that of the insert 46, and having a.- lower bent portion 48 and an upwardly extending end or hook 50. To assemble the handle 42 in operative position on the bag, the upwardly turned ends or hooks 50 of the handle are inserted into the openings 40 of the pockets 38 and pushed upwardly into such pockets as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The ends 50 of the strap, containing the stiffening insert 46 have asufficiently snug lit within the pockets 38 so that when inserted therein, the ends of the strap are securely retained within such pockets, preventing removalv therefrom during ordinary movement of the bag when it is being carried by the strap. However, the frictional engagement of the ends 50 of the strap with the adjacent inner side walls 52 of the pocket 38, which is formed between members 12 and 36, is of a degree such that when desired, the ends 50 of the strap can be pulled readily out of the pockets by exerting a downward push on the end portions 44 of the handle.

Connected to the inner surface or inside lining 54 of the bag is a holder 56 for the handle 'or strap 42 when it `is desired to use the bag without a handle. `The holder 56 is preferably, although it need not be, formed of the same material as the lining 54, e.g. plastic, leather or cloth. Said holder is in the form of an elongated strip of material which is connected to the lining 54 along its lower longitudinal edge 58, the upper longitudinal edge 60 also being connected to the lining beneath the upper 'longitudinally extending portion 28 of the frame member '15. The holder 56 is conveXly shaped to form a longitudinally extending pocket 62 between member 56 and the lining 54, into which the strap or straps such as 42 can-be inserted, preferably by first folding the strap as seen in Fig. 2. The holder 56 is preferably positioned in the upper portion of the bag so that it will occupy a minimum of space in the main contents-carrying portion of the bag, and will be readily accessible for removing Vthe strap 42 from, or inserting it into, the pocket 62 provided by said holder when the bag is opened by means lof the conventional type clasp 64.

Instead of employing a single strap 42 as shown in Fig. l, a pair of such straps or handles-12 and 42' can be employed as illustrated in Fig. 4, strap 42 being the same as strap 42, the U-shaped end portions 44' of strap 42' Vbeing inserted into the pockets 38 adjacent the upper inner ends on one side of the bag as in the case of strap 42 on the opposite side of the bag.

Further, instead of providing the pockets 38 for the handles or straps such as 42 on the upper inner surfaces of the bag, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, these pockets can beprovided on the outer side walls of the bag. Thus, referring to Fig. 5, there is shown a bag 66 having pieces or webs 68 connected adjacent the opposite upper corners of one or both side walls 70 of the bag and forming pockets 72 between said webs 68 and the adjacent side wall 70, similar to the pocket 38 formed between the overlapped end portions 36 of web 26, and a side wall 12, as seen in Fig. 3. Opposite end portions 44 of the strap 42 can be inserted into pockets 72 in the same manner as described above for insertion of such end portions into pockets 38. However, it is preferred to provide the pockets for retaining the handle or straps such as 42, on the inside surfaces of the bag adjacent frame member 15, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, rather than on the outer surface of the bag as shown in Fig. 5.

From the foregoing it is seen that the invention provides a versatile handbag construction, the main feature of such construction being a specially designed handle and retaining means for said handle on said bag, whereby the handle is readily mounted in said retaining means and removable therefrom, to permit carrying said bag either by a handle or in the hand as a clutch bag in the absence of a handle.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been described for the purpose of illustration, it should be understood that various modifications and adaptations thereof may be made within the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A ladies accessories bag comprising symmetrical half portions and flexible side walls, a frame connected to and supporting said side walls and defining the interior space of said bag, said frame being pivoted at an intermediate portion thereof for opening and closing said half portions, a web' connected to an overlapped interior portion of the outer surface of the side walls of a half portion of said handbag, said web surrounding an upper portion of said frame and forming a pair of pockets Vbetween said web and the contiguous overlapped side wall portion, said pockets being located adjacent to vand outside the upper end portions of said frame, a removable exible handle, a metal stilening member positioned in each of the end portions of said handle, said y'half portions and exible side walls, a frame connected to and supporting said side walls and defining the interior space of said bag, said frame being pivoted at an intermediate portion thereof for opening and closing said half portions, the outer side wall of each symmetrical half portion having an overlapped interior surface adacent the outer side edges of each said outer side wall, a web connected to each of said overlapped interior surfaces, said webs each surrounding an upper portion of said frame and each forming a pair of pockets between said web and the contiguous overlapped side wall portion, said pockets being located adjacent to and outside the upper end portions of said frame, a pair of removable flexible handles, a metal stiffening member positioned in each of the end portions of each of said handles, said member forming each of said end portions into a U- shaped hook, said hooks being removably received in said respective pockets for supporting said bag from said handles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 907,046 Hart Dec. 15, 1908 1,090,694 Depollier Mar. 17, 1914 1,425,534 Mosher Aug. 15, 1922 FOREIGN PATENTS 198,939 Great Britain June 14, 1923 879,710 France Nov. 30,v 1942 

